Talbots Man—coming to a mall near you

DSN Retailing Today, Nov 10, 2003 by Emily Scardino

HINGHAM, MASS. -- Talk about your revamped assortments. Classic women's wear specialist Talbots has taken the notion of tailoring one's offerings to a whole new level with the recent introduction of an entirely new retail store--this time targeted exclusively to men.

Building upon a strategy that began in 2002 of selling its new Talbots Mens apparel line through catalogs and online, Talbots escalated the program to include Talbots Mens stores, and recently opened its sixth and final unit for 2003 in Manhattan.

Initial sales results have been encouraging, the company reports, and expansion plans are moving ahead for 2004 and beyond, including approximately six to eight new Men's stores per year, according to spokeswoman Betsey Thompson.

This new division is proving an effective--and necessary--means for Talbots to grow its maturing Talbots catalog and store businesses. Its conservative line of career and casual wear targets boomers, who are rapidly aging out of the workforce. Lower-priced strip mall competitor Kohl's and mall-based rival JCPenney have been gaining younger customers with new missy career wear lines.

While overall retail store sales were flat at $1.347 billion in fiscal 2002 versus $1.346 billion in fiscal 2001, comp-store sales slid 6.6% to $401.8 million in '02, on top of a 5.5% decline in '01. Catalog sales were also down 7% in fiscal 2002, which ended Feb. 1, 2003, and net sales were down 1%, at $1.595 billion.

Opening new retail divisions to spur growth is no new strategy for Talbots. Founded in 1947, Talbots operates more than 900 stores, with a catalog circulation of 50 million. To attract young moms to the Talbots brand, the company opened its Talbots Kids division in 1990, and is still growing this 63-unit chain. Other spin-off retail divisions: include Talbots Woman, Talbots Petites, Talbots Accessories & Shoes and Talbots Outlet stores. The largest of these is Talbots Petites, at 241 units.

The company opened its first Talbots Mens retail store in April 2003 in Westport, Conn., and shortly thereafter opened stores in King of Prussia, Pa., Worthington, Ohio, Boston and McLean, Va. The New York City store rolled out in September at Madison Avenue and 54th Street, adjacent to the multilevel flagship Talbots women's store and a new Talbots Kids store on the level below the men's store.

This combination unit is the largest in Talbots' real estate portfolio, standing at 32,680 square feet. The men's store is approximately 4,500 square feet, with most stores averaging about 3,300 square feet of selling space, and approximately 700 square feet devoted to backroom merchandise. Stores are light on inventory, which is artfully merchandised, mirroring the women's stores. In this early state, there are a mix of stand-alone men's stores and stores adjacent to women's stores, in order to see if it is men or their wives doing most of the shopping.

"We are delighted to be opening one of our first-ever Talbots Mens stores in New York," said Arnold B. Zetcher, Talbots president, chairman and ceo. "Our Madison Avenue flagship store will become a showcase for Talbots' ability to wardrobe the entire family."

Talbots is banking on its established equity as a classic, classy, American women's label with moms to help it make the transition into a family lifestyle brand. There are so few units that there will be been no major marketing campaigns to brand Talbots Mens as of yet, aside from the Web and the catalog.

In terms of design, Talbots Mens is the male complement to Talbots' conservative women's wear offering, with a similar mix of tailored suiting and career wear and country home casual wear. Talbots Mens offers apparel classifications including sweaters, sportshirts, dress shirts, sportcoats, casual and dress pants and outerwear. A broad selection of silk ties featuring about 100 SKUs is prominently merchandised, ideal for Talbots women's wear customers looking to pick up a quick gift.

Price points are also on par with those at Talbots, with wool sweaters at $85, long-sleeved button-down pique polos at $80, khakis at $80 and cashmere sweaters at $185.

Counterintuitive as it may seem for a retail chain to launch in the current economy--especially retailing men's wear, one of the slowest growing apparel categories--Talbots Mens is reportedly faring well. It appears that the existing customer base for the Talbots brand is accepting men's wear as a natural extension of the Talbots lifestyle, which should fuel slow but steady growth and help stave off further declines.